Why Is Lincoln So Revered?

Lincoln was a great leader. The 16th man to preside over America, he led the country successfully during a tumultuous phase in its history. 200 years later, he is still considered one of the most inimitable presidents our country has had—but why?

What does it take to be recognized in the thousand paged history textbooks—the ubiquitous classroom staple that retells the tales of past heroes? We have only had 44 presidents - a relatively small number - and not every president is given due diligence in our education (commensurate with the power of the position they once occupied, that is).

Lincoln is Obama’s favorite president. I said yesterday that Obama couldn’t really learn much from Clinton’s presidency no matter how similar the political scene(the differences were still greater). So, can he learn from Lincoln, even further removed in history?

Maximum Leader, influenced heavily by his background in political science, would probably say that he can. After all, why do we study history/political science? Given the obvious fact that we learn from history, I would like to clarify my statement from yesterday by quoting Obama’s inaugural address: “Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history.”

Given that Washington has been affected by the Potomac Fever in recent history, I make the argument that Obama has more to learn from presidents in our early history than our recent history. After all, it is the values which we must carry forth, and not the specific, nitty-gritty political stratagems to woo the American public and score high on polls. We are faced with new challenges, and we must use new tools, Obama says, but remember the old values...for which Lincoln serves as a perfect model.